“It’s dull, boring.” “Just a guy pushing buttons.” “What am I supposed to be looking at?” How many times have you heard the above sentiments used to describe an electronic music performance? No matter if a synthpop act triggers samples from an Emulator II or DJs at Electric Daisy Carnival [...]
There’s something to be said for understated house music. No matter if a name is attached to a track or the DJ doing the mixing, a low-key set that starts slow and minimal and gradually builds momentum communicates a higher level of skill: a DJ who doesn’t lay out all [...]
A major difference between most EDM and popular music is the structure. EDM is typically formulated so that it can be used in a long continuous mix, or rather, each track is constructed to act as a fragment or sting of a much larger song or audio “journey” that is [...]
Right at the end of October, Steve Aoki and duo Knife Party announced on MTV a collaboration, a “phat” track called “Pile Driver.” Although the track is set for official release in early 2013, both acts are already including it in their setlists. Of course, over the years EDM has [...]
For the average individual, New Year’s Eve is a celebration – a time you look around for the best party to knock back a few cocktails and dance until the early hours of the morning. Yet, for the DJ, New Year’s Eve is the prime time to knock back a [...]
Some artists are trendsetters and others followers. In the current musical climate of EDM, Avicii is turning into the former, a formidable force of hummable piano lines and uplifting house tracks that fill a dance floor and become an anthem even before he headlines his next festival. But with careers [...]
In the second half of the 1980s, Morrissey, still with The Smiths, sang, “Burn down the disco, hang the blessed DJ.” Now, according to a trend piece in the New York Times, disco revival groups – but not nu-disco – want to resurrect it. But acts like Crystal Ark Party [...]
For every positive action, there’s a negative reaction. For every shiny side of a coin, there’s a tarnished one. No matter which metaphor you use, there’s no denying that 2012 was a paradoxical year for electronic dance music. On one hand, increased record sales, festival attendance, and inclusion at U.S. [...]
Larger festival presence and greater music sales form just one part of EDM’s mainstream ascent. Whether you argue this visibility has watered down the genre or is more beneficial is a moot issue. Instead of being seen as a more repetitive, if not lesser, form of disco, electronic dance music [...]
What’s house? What’s trance? We’re clearly entering a new era of electronic dance music, one in which both commercial and independent artists see no genre bounds. The melodic, arpeggiated melodies of trance music meld with the hard, march-like beats of house. The instability of dubstep’s wavering bass adds a much-needed [...]